


A Guardian's Many Deaths

by fsf99



Category: Destiny (Video Games), Destiny 2 - Fandom
Genre: Death discussion, F/F, First Kiss, Guardian-Lightless Human Relationship, Heart-to-Heart, Slightly Sad, slightly comedic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29136618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fsf99/pseuds/fsf99
Summary: Corinth is a Hunter, one of many resurrected Human Guardians that protect the Last City. She regularly visits some of the City's children and their "babysitter", a Lightless human named Jane. Jane has some questions about Guardian immortality, and Corinth finds herself reminiscing over her experiences and how to answer her.
Relationships: Female Guardian (Destiny)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	A Guardian's Many Deaths

**Author's Note:**

> Surprised to see something like this? This idea came to me randomly during a discussion with friends. I recently got back into Destiny 2 after playing Destiny 1 wayyy back in the day, and now that the game is F2P I've been having some occasional fun with it. Hopefully once I have more spending money I can go ahead and buy the DLC, see what more of the game is about. I know this is a FAR cry from what I usually write, but even someone like me likes to branch out every now and then. I hope you enjoy this short jaunt into a completely different fandom!

Lord Shaxx was well known among the children of the city. The loud, boisterous Titan often played with the young ones that inhabited humanity’s last bastion, acting out crucible matches or telling tales of his exploits. However, he wasn’t the only Guardian that found themselves entertaining the youth that lived in the care of the Traveler. Scores of Guardians, whether Titan, Hunter, Warlock, Exo, Awoken, or plain old Human, came to see the people of the city, and no one was more pleased to see them than the kids who wished to hear stories of worlds beyond the Earth, battles fought and won, and wondrous feats of valor that would give pride to the most downtrodden. The Guardians were emissaries of the Traveler’s light, and they held their heads high as they met the people they had sworn to protect.

Corinth was one of these Guardians. She did not consider herself too extraordinary among others. A Human Hunter was a dime a dozen in their ranks, it seemed, but she paid it no mind. She fought well in the Crucible, had several hundred kills under her belt from the enemies of Humanity, and wasn’t ashamed to admit her occasional participation in the Drifter’s seedy games. The thing that brought her the most joy, however, wasn’t found at the receiving end of a pulse rifle’s bullet or a solar throwing knife’s blade, but in one specific area of the Last City.

“Corinth’s back!” The shrill, high-pitched cry of an excited child rang out in the alleyway. Corinth laughed as she was suddenly assaulted from several angles, all by pairs of small arms and hands coupled with gleeful laughter. The Hunter had made this alley almost her second home besides the Tower. She had met the children here, from a local apartment complex, during the Red Legion’s assault on the city. Even when the Traveler’s Light left her, she refused to take her finger off of the trigger of her Auto Rifle, feeling the blood trail down her face as she kept the young ones behind her, bullets churning into the approaching Legionnaires until her ammo ran dry. It was thanks to the Traveler’s grace and a bit of good luck that she was able to keep the children safe, eventually returning to them once her Light had returned and the City had been retaken.

“Settle down, everyone,” Corinth said, sliding the kids safely off of her. She unslung a cloth bag from over her shoulder, setting it down in the circle of kids. There were seven of them, all of whom were lucky enough to still have their parents alive after the Cabal attack. Mattie, Amy, Mikhail, Xiao Bai, Maria, Nathan, and Yuriko. Seven children from one building, with the only friends being the other children beside them. And Corinth, of course.

“Did you fight any more Fallen, Corinth?” Mikhail asked, his pale face grinning under his freckles and orange hair, “How were they? I hear they’ve got a lot of weird arms!”

“What about Vex?” Maria asked her next, twirling a few strands of curly black hair between light brown fingers, “Is it true that you can drink the milk they have?”

“Ewww, that’s gross!” That was from Nathan, a strong young boy for his age, his hands going up to grab his short-haired head in surprise. Corinth sometimes saw a touch of maturity in the young boy, which often faded once he told her of his latest prank escapades. “You can’t drink Vex milk, that’s like drinking pee!”

A new set of “ewww!” came from the group, which made Corinth playfully roll her eyes. This was what she and all the other Guardians fought for: the chance for these children to grow up safely in the Traveler’s light, and make jokes about Vex milk actually being their pee. She wouldn’t have it any other way, though she assumed Ghost would be seeing that Vex milk waterfall on Nessus in a different light now. Hopefully Failsafe wouldn’t hear of this, or she would never let Ghost hear the end of it.

“I definitely haven’t tried it,” Corinth told them, opening the bag she had brought. Inside were several delicious looking cookies, plenty for all of the kids to have a handful each. “Happy Dawning, you guys.” The children smiled brightly as they dug in, thanking the Guardian as they stuffed their faces full of delicious baked goods. Crumbs went all over their faces, as did frosting and chocolate sauce, but there wasn’t a single unhappy face among the lot of them. Corinth was happy to see that.

“Miss Corinth,” Xiao Bai asked, raising his hand and spilling some crumbs onto his short black hair, “Did you fight any more of those Caybals?”

“You mean Cabal?” the Guardian asked, brushing the crumbs out of the young boy’s hair, “Yes, I’ve had plenty of scuffles with the Red Legion, both in the system and in…other places.” She assumed the Drifter wouldn’t be too happy with her blabbing about Gambit to these children, so she made sure to avoid the subject.

“Miss Corinth…” Yuriko, the smallest of the bunch, had both of her hands holding one of the cookies. “Are...are the other planets going to be okay? I heard they went missing…” Corinth’s breath hitched, and she pursed her lips. She knew Commander Zavala had told the City’s residents about the disappearances. Mars, Mercury, Venus, Titan, Io...entire planets vanished into space, with no trace of where they went. How was she meant to explain that to these children, children who had never seen a pyramid of the Darkness, but who often saw the use of Stasis in the Crucible matches streamed to the City? 

“I think they’ll be fine,” she finally said, giving Yuriko a pat on the head, “They’re probably just playing some hide and seek, that’s all. They’ll be back soon.” She was thankful that these children were still young enough for stories like that...as well as lies. 

Corinth heard someone clear their throat, and looked up. She smiled as she saw a figure leaning in the doorway, arms crossed looking at her with the children. Corinth stood up, letting the children have their way with the bag of cookies, and walked over to the figure, who held out their hand. Corinth took it, shaking it.

“It’s been some time, Guardian. I’m glad you came back to visit.”

“I’ve missed this place, Ms. O’Reilly. I’m glad to see these kids for the Dawning, at least.”

Jane O’Reilly was a young woman in her mid 20s, a Lightless human whose ancestors came from Old Europe. She was in charge of taking care of the children while their parents were away at work or otherwise. She and Corinth had bonded over caring for the children, and although she was Lightless, Jane was one of the few people Corinth felt comfortable enough to tell anything to. The Guardian could often remember the times she and the redhead laughed their nights away, with Corinth regaling her with tales of battles won and secrets found.

“Don’t be so formal with me, lass,” Jane laughed, bringing Corinth into a hug, one that the Guardian returned. “You’re family ‘round these parts. The kids love you, and their parents are glad to have a Guardian teaching them things.”

“Like the fact that Vex milk isn’t actually pee?” Corinth asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Hey, I won’t tell ‘em if you don’t. Come on in.” Leaving the kids to play around outside, Corinth followed Jane in. The set of apartments in this part of the City weren’t the most elegant, but Jane and the other families were able to live modest lives, with enough space to live in even amongst the more cramped neighborhoods. The Last City may be a haven for what was left of humanity in their home system, but it was still heavily walled in and reliant on the goodness of its own population to maintain adequate living spaces. Hearing stories of times long past, when Humanity’s Golden Age created a utopia for the species, was sometimes cathartic to Corinth, as it let her imagine a world where people like her, Guardians, weren’t truly needed. Perhaps her past life existed during the Golden Age, but there would never be a way for her to know.

Jane took Corinth to her apartment, a comfortable studio layout with a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom, along with some closet space. Living alone, Jane had no need for anything more than this, and she often used the building’s shared areas when she had to care for the kids. Corinth took a seat on Jane’s large couch, feeling the spot where the springs had failed and nearly sinking in. Her Ghost materialized into the air, sighing and stretching its little nodes as it moved around the room, stretching its “legs”.

“Do you want any tea?” Jane asked, walking into her kitchen. The wall between the rooms had a small, glassless window to see between the rooms, and Corinth could see her rummaging through the shelves.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Corinth looked up at her Ghost, who looked at the Guardian and then towards Jane, floating over to look at what she was doing.

“Do you need any help?” Ghost asked, moving from one of Jane’s shoulders to the other. The young woman laughed, giving the little Light-being a pat on its top, which Ghost seemed to almost hum at and close its eye, leaning into Jane’s hand.

“I’m good here, little guy,” she said, opening a cabinet above her head and pulling out two glasses, “How about something stronger, Corinth? Like a whiskey?”

“Now that I’ll gladly take.” Corinth didn’t know if Guardians were capable of getting drunk. Perhaps being resurrected beings by the Light prevented them from losing their mind to liquor, or maybe there was a limit so extremely high that all the alcohol in the City would be needed to reach it. She wouldn’t be surprised if she discovered that Lord Shaxx or the Drifter had already found this upper limit, and especially if Saint-14 had surpassed it.

“Here you are, this one’s from an old family recipe. Or so I hear.” Jane gave Corinth a glass of whiskey and ice, having one other glass for herself. “Supposedly there was a city called Dublin, in Old Europe. Seems this whiskey comes from there. Oh, sorry, I mean scotch. You know, semantics.”

“Don’t think I’ve been anywhere named Dublin.” Corinth took a sip of the drink, enjoying the feeling on her tongue. “Any missions in the Dead Zone usually center around Devrim’s spot. Getting rid of the entrenched Red Legion is a doozy.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard o’ that. Still a right mess there?” Corinth loved hearing Jane’s accent. One of the few things from humanity’s cultural past that was still prevalent among the City’s populace, thankfully. 

“Well, a pretty big arms dealer was taken down. And I lost count of how many Cabal and Fallen I’ve killed. Oh, and Taken. They’re in the mix too, unfortunately.” The mere sight of a Taken Phalanx anywhere in the EDZ was enough to make her remember the unfortunate meetings with them anywhere near a cliff edge. Hunters weren’t meant to fly like that.

“Ugh, hearin’ about the Taken gives me shivers. Thank the Traveler that we’ve got you out there takin’ care of them.” Jane had sat down on the couch as well, and she leaned over to give Corinth a playful punch on the shoulder. The Guardian rolled her eyes and smiled, taking another sip of her whiskey, not realizing that she’d already drank it all. When the ice cubes started to hit her lips, she set the glass on the center table and stretched her arms.

“You seem tired,” Jane said, resting back on the couch, “Rough day? Or, week? Month?”

“Try lifetime.” Corinth sighed, bringing her feet up onto the couch and resting herself by laying her head on Jane’s lap, looking up at her with her hands intertwined on her own stomach. Jane smiled, one hand holding her glass and the other petting Corinth’s hair gently, feeling her fingers through the Guardian’s locks. 

“Just tell me all about it, dear,” the young woman said, “Just like every other time.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I hadn’t met you, Jane,” Corinth said, closing her eyes and resting there.

“You might have been better in your Crucible matches…”

“What? No, come on, that’s a low blow.”

“You asked!” Jane giggled, taking another sip of whiskey. “I saw o’ of your matches the other day. How’d you let that Warlock sneak up on you like that? All those crazy blue ice things and one o’ those fancy shotguns right to the kisser!”

“Crucible’s not always easy, you know.” Corinth rolled her eyes, shifting her head a little to find a more comfortable position. “Lord Shaxx can be encouraging, but he encourages everyone on either team. He’s a wonderful guy, but sometimes he accidentally comes off as condescending. It can be demoralizing when you’re losing.”

“So just stop losing, eh?” Jane’s fingers played with a few strands of Corinth’s short hair. “Simple as that.” Corinth knew that Jane meant well, but she knew her own Crucible stats. It would take one of the Traveler’s miracles to get her any higher on the leaderboard by this point. Too many Hand Cannons and Shotguns, while she just had her trusty Auto Rifle and occasionally an Arc-powered Submachine Gun. She was happy at the position she was at, worrying that going any higher would just give her more grief.

Corinth tilted her head away from Jane, looking over at the door to the apartment where she had left her Auto Rifle. The weapon looked massive, somehow, from this angle. Seeing it wasn’t just seeing a weapon, but seeing all the foes she’d felled with it. Fallen, Vex, Hive, Cabal, Taken, Scorned...and her fellow Guardians, in the Crucible and in the Drifter’s games. There were times that the thought of this gun having killed other Guardians gave her a similar feeling as when the Cabal sealed up the Traveler and stole their connection to the Light. It made her feel scared and alone, almost as if she was able to feel stomach aches again.

“What’s it like?”

“Hm?” Corinth realized that Jane had been speaking about something, but she hadn’t been paying attention.

“In the Crucible. And, well, in everything else.” Jane looked down at Corinth, pushing her hair back from her forehead. “You’re actually dying each time, aren’t you?”

Corinth took a moment to think. “Yeah...we are. Even if it’s televised, even if people here in the City enjoy it...those are all very real deaths we experience.” That was another thing she thought about, especially when she saw the children playing at being Guardians in the streets. None of these people would ever know what it’s like. Even if they were resurrected as Guardians after death, they would only know their lives as Guardians. Perhaps they would see former friends or loved ones again, but they wouldn’t remember their faces.

“Does it hurt?” Jane’s voice was softer now, a hint of crackling in her tone. “Do you feel anything?”

“Well,” chimed in Corinth’s Ghost, floating around Jane’s head and coming to a stop before her, “Thanks to me, Corinth can revive as many times as needed. I’m able to recreate all of her Guardian memories, body structure, internal organs, armor, weapons, sense of humor…”

“Thanks, Ghost, we get it.” Corinth waved Ghost away, watching him dissipate into Light and feeling his presence in her subconscious again. She looked back up at Jane. “Honestly...it does hurt. Every bullet, every blast of energy, every strike from a weapon, we feel it all. It hurts to die…” She took a sharp breath. “Or at least, it used to.”

“...how many times?” Jane was looking away from Corinth now, her gaze fixated on her living room’s window looking out into the streets. “Can you even remember how many times you’ve died?” 

“...truth be told, I stopped counting a long time ago.” She wasn’t lying. Once the pain of death and the consequences of it felt nonexistent, there was no reason to worry about it any longer. A shot from a Hive Boomer, an explosion from a Fallen Walker’s cannon, or even a quick slice from a fellow Guardian’s sword in the Crucible...so many times she had died, so many times that Ghost had brought her back good as new. 

“If you keep counting, then you stop having the will to fight.” She looked out the window of Jane’s apartment, seeing the buildings of the City. “Some might say that being almost immortal makes you careless, but we’ve seen what happens to Guardians that lose their Ghosts. Cayde-6, Osiris...not to mention Eris Morn. Once you lose your Ghost, you lose a major part of you. And you can suffer your final death...something no Guardian wants to experience.” The stories of the battle of Twilight Gap, so many Guardians losing their Ghosts and therefore their existences...such a fate was one she hoped to avoid at all costs. 

“Doesn’t sound too bad,” Jane said, trying to diffuse the awkward pause, “After all, being constantly revived, no matter what happens, that must feel nice.”

“It’s kind of like waking up from a deep sleep.” Corinth put her hands behind her head, sighing. “You feel relaxed, you can sense your shields coming back up, Ghost always has some kind of quip to give…”

“I heard that,” Ghost’s voice said, echoing out into the room.

“But anyway,” Corinth continued, waving off Ghost again, “You do get numb to the pain of death eventually. Some of my Guardian friends often joke about it.”

“Sounds pretty grim.”

“Oh, it absolutely can be. They were taking bets on who would die the most the next time they had a Strike to undertake. Whomever died the least won the Glimmer pool. Last I heard, the record for deaths in one Strike was 13.” She chuckled. “Though from my understanding, most of those were accidental.” She looked back up at Jane, surprised to see her smiling as well, though she could see the tears brimming in her eyes.

“You really are amazingly brave,” the Lightless human said, “Then again, you’re a Guardian, seems like it’s against your very nature to not be brave.”

“Oh, we’ve had some bad Guardians in the past, even if that was long before my resurrection.” She thought of the stories she’d heard from Lord Shaxx, of the warlords that abused their Risen powers. Truly, those were dark days, and she was glad she hadn’t experienced them. “Most Guardians nowadays fight for the City and the Light. Even the ones that use all that Stasis craziness.”

“That’s a whole other story, isn’t it?” Jane asked, brushing a few more hairs off of Corinth’s forehead, “Light and Dark together, something like that?”

“All I know is, it’s annoying to be frozen by it and it hurts like hell to be killed by it.” Terrible memories came to mind the last time she fought a Crucible battle at Twilight Gap. Not being able to move because of a fellow Hunter’s abilities, then being exploded into millions of tiny pieces….that wasn’t fun.

“Well, I think that’s enough talk of death for one lifetime.” Jane rested back on her couch, yawning. “Of course, you’ll be on your thousandth lifetime by the time I’m done with my own.”

“Heh...yeah…” Corinth hated the thought of that. This woman that she’d become so close to would age and die like any other human, while she herself continued to live, die, and live again. What she wouldn’t have given to have fallen for another Guardian, but the way that Jane treated her made her feel closer to the Humanity that she wanted to protect, the same Humanity that she would never truly get to feel again.

“I hope you enjoyed the whiskey,” Jane continued, snapping Corinth out of her daydream. The Guardian sat up as Jane shifted, letting the redhead get off of the couch and bend her neck side to side, sighing as an audible crack was heard. “I should go check that the kids haven’t blown each other up or anything like that.” She turned back to look at Corinth. “I’ll be right back, okay? Don’t go teleporting up to your jumpship or anything like that.”

“I’ll be here,” the Hunter said with a smile, one that sadly faded once Jane walked out of the door. Unprompted, Ghost floated back out, looking towards the door that Jane left and then turning back to Corinth.

“I don’t think you’ve ever talked to anyone else like that,” Ghost noted, “At least not any other Guardians. Don’t you think they’d understand better than someone like her?”

“I doubt it.” Corinth rested back on the couch, kicking her feet up onto the coffee table and clasping her hands together on her stomach. “I needed a perspective from someone that knows the dangers of death.”

“If I get destroyed, you’d easily die.”

“That’s different and you know it.” She watched as the little light floated down onto her lap, shutting it’s “eye” and letting her pet its polygonal body. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Ghost...and I won’t let anything happen to her either.”

“She’s in the City, there’s no way she could be any safer.”

“I’d have agreed with you if we hadn’t had to deal with the Cabal.” The thought of Jane facing any of the Darkness’s minions by herself, without Corinth at her side...it hurt more than any weapon could. Thankfully, she didn’t have to reminisce too much longer, as Ghost suddenly blinked back to alert status and floated up by Corinth’s face.

“I’ve received a message from the Tower,” he said, his various bits moving in tandem with his voice, “We have a patrol mission scheduled in the EDZ in several hours. We should get moving soon.” Corinth nodded, about to stand up, when Jane walked back in. She was somewhat surprised, but her expression softened, and she watched Corinth stand up with a smile on her face.

“Duty calls, eh?” she asked, as Corinth moved to grab her gear.

“Unfortunately,” the Hunter replied, making sure her weapon was set. Corinth felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned around to look Jane in the face. The human smiled, then put her hands on Corinth’s chest armor and leaned up to give her a quick kiss on the lips. Shocked more than the last time she got struck by Vex Arc energy, Corinth watched as Jane giggled and took a step back, her hands behind her back.

“That was for good luck,” she said, then brought her hand up for a small wave. “Try not to die too much before your next visit.”

Corinth, a dumb smile on her face, nodded and activated the transport up to her jumpship. Her body dissipated into Light, and the last thing she saw during transport was Jane’s beautiful smile.

\--------------------------------------------

“That was pretty sudden,” Ghost said, as the Jumpship soared through Earth’s atmosphere on its way to the European continent, “For a second I thought I would have to revive you mentally.”

“You might have had to, Ghost,” Corinth said, reaching up to touch her lips in bewilderment, “It was definitely surprising to me too.”

“I guess you were right about the human connection,” he added, “Though I never expected it to be quite so literal. Still, she was very nice about it.”

Corinth didn’t reply this time, instead looking out at the Earth below her ship. This was the home of her race and ancestors. Someday, it would be all theirs again, and they wouldn’t have to hide behind the City’s walls. She was proud of the work she was doing, all in the hopes that the kids she helped could potentially grow up on a planet of their own. So could Jane, and so could everyone else in the City. Humanity deserved a chance to reclaim the planet they loved, for the people that they loved.

The Hunter in her dropship smiled. She could still taste Jane’s whiskey on her lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, this idea was spawned from a sudden thought at like 11 pm in a group chat with friends, which I then decided to put to words. Took a bit longer than I expected, but it definitely helps to get the writing juices flowing again.
> 
> If you're here from the Destiny 2 fandom, welcome! You may not be entirely interested in my other works, but I do hope you'll stick around regardless. If you're here from my usual works, hello to you too! I hope to write more varied stuff in the future, so consider this a fun little taste!


End file.
